The Canucks are sending Baynes and Brännström back to the AHL: here’s why

This was real stuff made real.

Then, hours later, Baines and teammate Erik Brannstrom were transferred back to Abbotsford for the second time that week.

What does it give? Well, if you don’t yet understand this temporary reassignment process for additional cap purposes, we better make sure you understand it by the end of this article. Because for Baynes in particular, it’s going to be a highlight all season long.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: Baynes’ performance has nothing to do with him being “demoted.” Head coach Rick Tocchet praised the young forward’s performance even before his heroics on Saturday night. The same can be said for Brännström, who received a lot of positive attention from Tocchet and company and who – although he didn’t score a single point – was instrumental in the goals of two Canucks last night.

Speaking of actual points, the point here is that Tocchet has made it clear that if given the opportunity, he wants both Baynes and Brännström on the active roster and in the lineup. This confirms that their double demotion this week is almost entirely due to cap management rather than performance. Thus, Baines is sent away the morning after the greatest game of his life.

Instead, it all comes down to charging a limit. We’ve already done some pretty extreme pre-season work to explain the entire accrual process, and we’ll be referring people to that work if they want a deeper understanding of the concept. The situation with Baines and Brännström allows us to conduct a seasonal study of how and why accruals occur.

To put a fairly complex process into perspective as simply as possible, we must start with the counterintuitive truth that the NHL salary cap is calculated on a daily basis. Each day on the NHL regular season calendar (and we’re talking about all days here, not just game days) a calculation is made of teams reaching their cap against the daily cap allowable. It’s probably easiest to think of the daily cap as a function of the NHL’s overall annual cap ($88 million this year) divided by the number of days on the schedule (192 in 2024-25).

Players’ maximum roster hits are now also calculated daily using the same basic formula. And if a team’s daily cap is below the daily cap cap, the team essentially gets to lock in the difference as accumulated cap space to be spent later.

Technically, this accrual is also calculated daily. So, if a team’s total cap (i.e., the combined annual AAV of the players on its roster) is $87 million, that team would show up as being $1 million below the $88 million cap, but would be charged about $5,208 per day. ($1 million/192) as long as they continue to be in this situation.

It doesn’t sound like much, but it adds up. That daily count is why the Canucks send Baynes and Brännström to Abbotsford between game days.

Let’s do some quick assessments.

On Saturday night, with both Baynes and Brannstrom in the lineup and on the ice, the Canucks had a roster worth a total of $87,605,097 in annual cap space. That’s just $394,903 below the cap, which, divided by 192, gives the Canucks a daily cap hit of just $2,057.

The Canucks released Baynes ($816,667) and Brännström ($900K) on Sunday morning. This lowered their Sunday cap to $85,888,430, which is now a whopping $2,111,570 below the cap. Divide that amount by 192 and the Canucks are now making about $10,998 per day.

There is no real purpose in calculating what this will total by deadline day as the amount changes daily. But at the end of the day, what really matters is that it adds up.

Now, with the Canucks playing the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday night, it’s safe to assume that Baynes and Brannstrom will be recalled and returned to the lineup starting Monday morning. Thus, this amount of 10 thousand dollars will only be credited on Sunday. But the same amount was awarded on Thursday and Friday last week during the previous demotions of Baines and Brännström.

The Canucks then moved back to $2,057 for Monday. Then, if nothing changes, we can probably expect Baynes and Brännstrom to be sent back to Abbotsford for an off day on Tuesday before being recalled again on Wednesday to face the New Jersey Devils.

At this point it occurs to us that we are really only looking at the financial side of the team here, and that is not the only consideration. Brännström is fortunate to have a one-way contract, meaning he is paid the same whether he plays in the NHL or is assigned to the minors. This back and forth business does not affect his profits.

This is not the case with Baines. He’s still on a two-way entry-level contract and his salary in the minors is just $70,000.

This means that when Baynes is on the NHL roster, he makes about $4,253 per day, and then when he is traded to Abbotsford, his income drops to $365 per day. We don’t think we’ll get any complaints from Baines about this, but it’s worth noting that this guy will make several thousand less on Sunday than he did on Saturday.

So how long will this whole accrual thing last? The short answer: the entire season, for as long and as often as possible.

Right now, the Canucks can pull this off because even though they have both Dakota Joshua and Thatcher Demko on IR, they are still under the cap. Joshua and Demko’s absences open up roster spots, but those spots don’t need to be filled on non-game days. This, in turn, allows people like Baines and Brännström to yo-yo.

For Baines, it could take a year. He is currently exempt until he completes three professional seasons (he’s currently in his third) or plays 80 NHL games (he currently has 12).

Technically speaking, if Baynes plays 68 of the Canucks’ remaining 75 games this year, he’ll lose his exemption sometime in March or April. But he’s unlikely to dress that often, so we can expect Baines to be exempt – and therefore eligible for indefinite demotion and promotion – throughout the 2024/25 season.

This is not the case with Brännström. A veteran of 270 NHL games since the 2018-19 season, Brännström is very No exempted from derogations. We know this because the Canucks already waived him once this year, moments after acquiring him from Colorado. It went unclaimed.

AND What, having gone through unclaimed waivers, created a temporary waiver waiver for Brännström. When a player “cancels” waivers, they can be freely assigned and reassigned until they spend or 30 cumulative days with the NHL, or played in ten NHL games.

Brannstrom, who has played just four games for the Canucks and is now routinely sent off the field on weekends, will take some time before he has to sit out again. At this point, we have to assume that the Canucks will either find a permanent spot for him on their roster or have previously sneaked him back to Abbotsford.

The only thing that will really hinder this yo-yo buildup is roster spot. Joshua is expected to return within a few weeks. Once he’s activated, he’ll need a spot on the active roster. This likely means one of Baines or Brännström will be demoted again, but this time they will not be immediately recalled on matchdays because their place on the active 23-player squad will now be filled by Joshua.

To be clear, this is not stopping the Canucks from scoring points. Joshua’s cap hit has been on the books all along, so if he returns to the lineup and, say, Baynes is sent off, Baynes’ AAV will still come off the books and that amount will start accruing daily.

The difference here is that they have room to bring Baynes back the next game day.

In other words, until Joshua returns to the lineup—and presumably during any other extended player absences during the season—we can expect the Canucks to use their reassignments to accumulate more than the daily cap. There’s really no reason not to do this, and the potential benefits of having more money to spend when the 2025 trade deadline arrives speak for themselves.